9 Facts About Wifi That S’poreans Confirm-Plus-Chop Didn’t Know About

Last Updated on 2022-05-12 , 1:24 pm

“I love you so much,” she thinks to herself for the millionth time. “I am so lucky to have you in my life.”

She feels this way about this guy even after dating for many years. #couplegoals, right?

They see each other everyday, do everything together and man, she loves him so much she just can’t live without him. 

She can’t even go like, ten minutes without having him around, much less a whole day.

She’s told him everything about herself. All her secrets, her social media passwords (21st century dating trust issues, man), and even her bank account details.

And like the faithful, loving boyfriend that he is, he stores it all up in his head, never forgetting.

No one on Earth knows her better than he does.

So romantic right.

But what if I told you that she, on the other hand, doesn’t know everything about this amazing man even after so many years of living with him and spending time with him?

A bit sad right?

Well, I’m here to say that all of you reading this are in a relationship with this same man. And most of you don’t know everything about him either.

Wondering who the heck he is?

Well, he’s WIFI of course. Hahahahahaha.

In light of that, I’m gonna tell you 9 things about your amazing Wifi man that you probably didn’t know about.

1. Wi-Fi actually came from the word “hi-fi”

Back in 1999, the Alliance which was then called ‘Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance (WECA)’ hired a marketing company to come up with a catchier name for IEEE 802.11b Direct Sequence.

These words are super technical, right?

Basically, they were creating all the stuff that makes wireless networks possible and they needed a catchier name lah. Imagine calling it IEEE blabla forever.

So they came up with a play on the word ‘high-five’ which is how Wifi was born.

But of course lah, someone very extra and said oh, the word Wifi needs some explanation.

So they came up with an explanation/bullshit advert slogan: “The Standard for Wireless Fidelity.”

But this was super confusing because the Alliance wasn’t in charge of creating any standard and the term ‘Wireless Fidelity’ doesn’t even mean anything.

And Wifi isn’t even an abbreviation for Wireless Fidelity. It was just a nonsense ad that took off and gave people misconceptions.

But anyway, what happened was that we all just went around calling it ‘Wifi’ cuz that term caught on.

I guess the marketing team did their job right.

2. Wifi is basically a glorified radio system.

For something that has taken over the whole world, Wifi is actually a pretty simple concept.

There’s nothing super complicated about it.

For something that carries over 60% of the world’s internet traffic, it’s pretty much a glorified radio system.

Wifi is basically just two radios talking back and forth that uses lower power and broadcast over a much shorter distance compared to your traditional radio.

Basically, just like your regular radio, Wifi is just communication done via radio waves.

Do you feel me, jellybean?

3. It’s a glorified radio + FedEx, actually.

Okay, so obviously it’s not exactly like a radio. Nonetheless, the concept remains.

One of the only things that make it a bit more complicated than your normal FM radio system is that it’s kind of like a FedEx.

It uses something called Internet Protocol to communicate. This is an internet language that ensures every single transmission sent and received has the requirement for confirmation.

Why is this so important? Well, it is what makes Wifi an extremely resilient and structured system.

Now for those of you that don’t know what I am prattling on about, let me explain it in simpler terms.

If, say, I’m using FedEx to ship a parcel from Singapore to Australia, I can request a delivery confirmation from FedEx. This delivery confirmation lets me know that what I’ve sent has been received by the other party.

And this is basically what the Internet Protocol does, only with every single byte being transmitted.

4. South Korea has got the fastest internet speed.

Internet speed is measured by Mbps, which stands for Megabits per second.

And South Korea’s got the fastest Internet speed, measuring 28.6Mbps. This is way above the world average by 21.1Mbps (as of 2015).

Apparently, according to PCMag, good government planning in South Korea is why internet connection speeds across the country have improved dramatically.

That and a competitive Korean ISP market. In the city of Cheongju, average internet speeds to citizens of 124.5Mbps are standard.

As though I needed another reason to want to move to South Korea lol. @SouthKorea, y’all hiring?

5. Earth’s population versus IoT. 

IoT stands for Internet of Things. Internet of Things are the number of devices connected to the Internet.

So we all know that the Earth’s population is around 7 billion. Well, as of 2018, the number of devices connected to the Internet is 23 BILLION.

That’s an average of 3+ devices PER PERSON. 

Well folks, if you need proof that we would lose in the war against AI, here you have it. We are sadly, completely and totally outnumbered by devices.

6. SUPER Wifi.

Wifi that is used domestically have an average range of 30m, provided they are not blocked or interrupted by other electronic devices or huge walls.

But did you know that specially developed Wifi networks can reach more than 275m in distance by using Wifi range extenders?

So this is probably how Singapore is connecting most of our island to free Wifi. It’s likely how WirelessSG has been widening it’s reach across Singapore.

This is cool and all, but can we please get SK’s Wifi speed? Pretty pleeease?

7. YOU are the most effective Wifi blocker.

Before you go around blaming the way your mom set up the house for your weak Wifi signal and before you go rearranging everything, listen up.

Water is one of the best Wifi signal blockers going (yeah, definitely don’t put your router next to your fish tank).

But do you realise you’re pretty much made up of water? 75% of your body is water to be exact.

So if you’ve got people sitting in between you and your router, you’re likely to get shitty Wifi cuz all that water content is blocking your Wifi signal.

We blame humans for a lot of things these days – wars and poverty and all that.

Now we can blame shitty Wifi on humans too. What a day. 

8. Like many great things, Wifi originated in Hawaii.

When I say many great things, I’m primarily talking about Poke bowls.

I just love them so much. 

And just like the amazing Poke bowl, the even-more-amazing Wifi that we’ve all grown to know intimately and love dearly originated in Hawaii.

It was known as ALOHAnet and was a pioneering computer networking system developed at the University of Hawaii.

In 1971, ALOHAnet became operational, and essentially became the first public demonstration of a wireless packet data network.

9. Wifi and insomnia. 

Have you ever got into bed, used your device and then find it really hard to fall asleep?

And then you’re tossing and turning for hours trying to force yourself to sleep?

Well, a 2007 study found that Wifi and insomnia could have a link. The study found that people exposed to electromagnetic radiation had trouble sleeping and their brainwave patterns were altered.

Wifi, cell phones and all that do emit higher levels of electromagnetic radiation, although they are definitely in the ‘safe zone‘. You won’t be at risk for severe disease or anything like that.

But it has the potential to disrupt your sleep patterns and cause insomnia. So maybe before going to bed, make it a habit to switch off all your electricity (yep, including that Wifi) and have a peaceful night’s rest.

Better be safe than sorry after all.

And there you go, 9 things you probably didn’t know about Wifi – the partner you spend most of your time with and can’t seem to live without.